Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative geographic data with examples.

• A. Quantitative data are numerical; qualitative data are non-numerical.
• B. Qualitative data are numerical; quantitative data are descriptions.
• C. Both are numerical.
• D. Qualitative data are only about weather.

Answer: (A)

In geography, the distinction hinges on whether the data are numbers you can measure or count versus descriptive labels you assign to features. Quantitative data are numerical and can be analyzed with arithmetic or statistics. You might measure rainfall in millimeters, elevation in meters, population counts, or distances between places. Qualitative data describe qualities or categories and are not numbers, such as land use types (residential, agricultural, forest), soil class, or a feature described as “urban” rather than given a numeric value.

This is why the best answer is that quantitative data are numerical and qualitative data are non-numerical. The other statements mix up this distinction or limit qualitative data to weather, which isn’t accurate because qualitative attributes cover many non-numeric descriptions across all geographic contexts.